Chris Belcher confirmed Thursday night he had taken the job, but the Columbia Board of Education made it official Friday morning.

Belcher will make $180,00 a year, which is more than $20,000 less than former superintendent Phyllis Chase would have made last year.

Belcher's qualifications include being superintendent of Kearney R-1 School District since 2005.

He was the assistant superintendent in Warrensburg from 2000 to 2005 and assistant to the superintendent in Blue Springs from 1992 to 1994.

Belcher also served as class principal, assistant principal and a high school biology teacher.

"I think in the 26 years I've been in the business, I've had experiences that have brought me to this point today," said Belcher. "I'm not a big believer that there's fate and destiny involved, but I do think that your experiences do shape where you end up."

Columbia Public Schools is nearly five times as large as Kearney R-1 School District.

Kearney public schools has 3,625 students in seven schools.

Columbia public schools has 17,245 students in 34 schools.

Belcher says the transition to a bigger school district shouldn't be a problem, but it might be a time crunch.

"The bureaucracy of a larger system will create more demands on the time for me to have more of that spontaneous movement out in the schools," said Belcher. "I go out in the schools as much as I can because I think as a school leader you have to have a sense for the culture and the feel of your buildings."

Belcher's new job will officially start on July 1st of this year but he plans to attend school board meetings and be in contact with columbia public schools administrators until then.

He also said he hopes Columbia is the last stop in his career.